Sandown Link delay

More than a decade after the 2.3 km Sandown Link Road was conceptualised and one year after construction started, it is now a race against time to complete it before 17:00 on 18 September.

Bad weather and the national labour strike are teasing desperate commuters and eager developers.

The official opening will go ahead on 18 September, with various high profile guests set to attend the ceremony, but there is a very real chance that the road will not be completed.

Not open

“The completion of the road is imminent, but there is a strong probability that it will not open to the public on the 18th,” says one of the developers, Aska Property Group’s Tony Clarke.

“If we had good weather from now to the 18th and no labour problems then we would have a chance. It is completely out of our control. We need 10 clear days of weather and labour to surface the road.”

The construction cost of the section from the R27 (West Coast Road) to the M12/N7 is R82 million, but the eventual benefit of the road is invaluable.

Traffic along Koeberg and Blaauwberg roads has reached absurd proportions, especially with these routes being upgraded all the time, in the name of development.

Most commuters have mastered the art of patience, but now with Sandown Road nearly done the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be beckoning.

People from the northern suburbs who want to go to the coast and avoid Blaauwberg Road, the major roleplayers (Milnerton Estates, Garden Cities and the Aska Property Group) and in particular Parklands and Sunningdale residents are counting the days to completion.

The new extension will open up traffic to the M12 and N7 and includes a road-over-rail bridge and ancillary underground services.

Clarke continues: “When one looks at a road that is all road infrastructure, but one of the services that go beneath the road is water. Ancillary services therefore include an enormous new water main that runs underneath the road. It’s a 900 mm in diameter pipe that now feeds the area with fresh water.”

The Sandown Road extension contract of R64 million has been complemented by the extension of Parklands Main Road, as well as the construction of the Potsdam/N7 Interchange in 2007 and the M12/bridge over Diep River in 2011.

Various roleplayers that included the provincial government and the City of Cape Town all pulled together to make travelling from A to B as easy as ABC.

On 18 September, Premier Helen Zille will unveil the plaque and then MyCiTi buses will take the guests on a tour of the new road and bridge. It is also pencilled in that the Traffic Department will open the road to traffic at 17:00.

Now it’s up to the weather and labour to play along.

***DISCLAIMER: THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN TYGERBURGER, A CAPE TOWN BASED MEDIA24 COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER. IT MAY NOT BE DUPLICATED WITHOUT ACCREDITING THE SOURCE – TYGERBURGER, MEDIA24.***